Malice in Wonderland
by becketttj
Summary: The two brothers find themselves alone again, but instead of relaxing while dear old dad is gone, the two decide to check out a series of missing person's cases. Little did they know they would be thrown into the depths of a mysterious world. Rated [M]
1. Chapter 1

Dean, Sam,  
I've gone to Missouri's. She thinks there may be a way to make more bullets for the colt. If we can figure out a way to do it, you two may not need to hunt that much longer. Missouri and I have to try everything we can think of; spells, enchantments, potions, rituals so I won't be back for a couple of weeks.

-Dad 

Sam walked over to his Dad's bedside table in the small grubby motel room they currently called home.  
As he bent down to pick up his Dad's dirty clothes with the idea to take them to the nearest Laundromat, he suddenly saw a note flutter to the ground.

In the dim light shining through the dirt-stained motel window, he read his Dad's note silently.  
As he finished reading, he looked around and suddenly noticed that the room was clean. He imagined hotel management must have cleaned the room and then simply forgotten to lock the door.

He turned around and jogged back to the room he and his brother were occupying.

"Dean," He exclaimed as he flew through the doorway.

Dean grumbled and covered his face with his blanket in attempt to escape the few rays of sun that were suddenly shining through the doorway.

"Not now… I'll do it in the morning," he said with muffled voice through the comforter.

"It's noon Dean," Sam said smiling. "No… Uh, Dad left us a note. He's gone to see Missouri."

At that announcement, Dean turned over, then screwed his eyes shut when the sunlight hit him.

"When's he coming back?"

"Couple weeks, he said" Sam replied, handing him the note.

Dean's eyes scanned the note.

"So what are we supposed to do? Are we just supposed to wait here for two weeks," he asked looking up at Sam.

"I don't know…," Sam replied, hopping on the bed beside his brother.

Dean sighed and looked at his brother, then at the floor.  
"Got any plans today?" He asked.

"You mean besides making small talk with my own brother," Sam teased before turning to his laptop and unwinding the chord to charge it. 

"Well, I was actually going to do some laundry. Is there anything else besides what was on the floor that you'd like cleaned," Sam asked with a smirk.

"Well now that you mention it, I may have left some clothes in the bathroom, Jeeves," Dean said, cocking his eyebrow sarcastically.

"I'll go get them…," Dean said as he threw aside the covers and got out of the bed.

Dean then proceeded to the bathroom, his bare feet slapping the hardwood of the hall with every step.

"TJ!"

"Ugh!" TJ exclaimed on his way to the floor. As he looked up shamelessly at his roommate after rolling off his bottom bunk for the hundredth time this semester, he noticed the digital clock beside his shoulder. "Oh my damn!" He said in panic, rushing over to his roommate and grabbing the clock as if looking closer would prove it wrong. "I'm going to be late!" He said as he dropped the clock and rushed to the closet to look for pants.

"Ouch dude, you've got yourself a nice patch of rug burn from that spill." Tom said through throws of giggles.

"Yeah," TJ replied breathlessly, as he stumbled over a shoe. "Thanks again for trading with me… That first week with the top bunk was murder." TJ said trying to be clever but just ended up not concentrating on what he was doing and tripping over the same shoe.

"No problem man." Tom chuckled as he watched his roommate whip the shoe at the wall opposite the closet. Tom leaned against the door frame and looked at their double bunk "Well what can I say dude, your cooler than my last roomie." And at that moment he noticed TJ had put his shirt on backwards and was struggling to fix it. "And you always make for great entertainment."

"Ok! I think I'm good, I have my books, I've got my laptop… I'm missing something." TJ said looking around as if it would materialize for him. Then his pants fell down around his ankles.

"How about a belt?"

"Shut up"

"C'mon we're going to be late." Tom picked up his book bag and began walking down the dorm hallway.

TJ emerged from the door of their room and locked it with a key before returning his attention to his waist and buckling his belt. He hopped down the steps to catch up with Tom and slipped on the last step, and fell against him.

"You settled now ballerina Barbie?" Tom asked holding TJ up with an arm.

"Oh yeah!" TJ exclaimed with a big smile on his face. His belt finally done up, and his book bag secure. He checked his watch and saw he had ten minutes to get to class, no rush, he was finally on time.

TJ was halfway to class when he saw a police officer talking to a teacher and another heading towards Tom and himself.

"Good morning boys," The woman police officer said. Her short blond hair, hawkish green eyes and freckles gave her a bird-like appearance. "Do you mind if I ask you both a couple of questions?"

"Are they about the disappearances?" Tom asked. A look of concern on his face.

TJ hadn't heard anything more than what he'd read in the papers. Two days ago they'd reported three missing people, one girl and two boys all three of them from the surrounding area and all in their 20's.

"Are you still trying to find the three?" He asked.

"Yes," Replied the officer, "but there was a bush party last night and four more people were reported missing, two of them students here."

"You mean there was a bush party? Was it like, private? Why weren't we invited?" Tom asked TJ.

"Dude be happy you're not missing too." TJ snapped back. "Look, I'm really sorry officer…" TJ's eyes glanced at her name tag, "Jacobs, but we have a class we have to get to in about, five minutes," He said looking at his watch. "C'mon Tom, we don't want to be late." And they left the officer.

They sprinted to their class and the second they hit the door, TJ hear his name called; "Tyler Mathews?" The teacher droned.

"Present!"

"Dean?" Called Sam as he opened the door to the hotel room. "Dean where are you?" He called as he tossed the laundry sack onto the floor and plopped onto the bed.

"I'm in the shower!" A muffled voice yelled through the door. There was a clinking sound and the sound of water hitting the bottom of a tub as the door opened and Dean poked his head into the hall. "What?" He asked, concerned.

Sam looked at Dean and his eyes followed the defined curves and outlines of the arm he was using to hold himself in the doorway. "Um…" Sam coughed as he turned away from the hall. "The paper in the corner store beside the Laundromat," He said with forced control. "There's been stuff going on in this small town, people… just disappearing."

"What else does it say?" Dean asked coming out of the bathroom dripping wet.

"Dean shouldn't you use a towel?" Sam said after he'd turned back around only to see Dean naked and dripping on the carpet of the bedroom floor.

"Shouldn't you be telling me why I care about missing persons cases?" Dean mocked. "You took the towels with you remember? I've been in that shower getting all pruney for the last 40 minutes waiting for you to come back."

He stepped in front of Sam and bent down to rummage through the laundry sack Sam had brought back, got a towel, and wrapped it around himself.

"Uh… Most of people missing are students from Eastlake Prep. Two were taken from the school itself and five others were reported missing.

"Any patterns?" Dean asked while wiping the water droplet's off his arm.

Without turning around Sam said, "Not really, three girls and four boys." Sam scanned the paper again "It says they were all in their 20's." Sam pointed out hopefully.

'_They just can't ever make it easy_,' Dean thought to himself as he attempted to balance on one foot and put on a sock.

"Well, we may as well check it out. If we're going to be alone for two weeks, there's no reason we shouldn't just go up there and take a look around."

"Dad told us to stay put."

"No he didn't." Sam said with a small smile "He told us he'd be back in two weeks. There was nothing about staying where we are."

"But, what if he tries to phone us?" Dean asked looking up at Sam quizzically.

"Dean, we've stayed in so many hotels, I'd be surprised if dad could remember what they were called, let alone the phone numbers. Besides, we've got our cell phones"

"Well what if he comes back early and we aren't here?" Dean argued.

"We'll still have our phones to tell him where we are."

"But what about-"

"Dean… What's wrong?" Sam asked concerned.

Dean was buttoning up a pair of low ride jeans and once he had zipped them up he turned around and looked for a shirt.

"I just… I just think we should stay here, that's all" He said in an uncertain tone.

"Dean," Sam said while walking towards his brother, "don't worry about it. We'll be fine. I'm not even sure there's anything to find yet."

"Well what if something bad happens to dad while we're not here? What if something happened to me, and dad didn't know?"

"Nothing is going to happen to you."

"How do you know?"

"Cause you have me." Sam said with a smile.

Dean turned from his brother and laughed. "Now you're just making fun of me." He said, unable to hide his smile.

"C'mon, it's going to be a long drive," Sam chuckled before slapping his hand on his brother's shoulder.

Thirteen hours, four pit stops, and seven practical jokes later, they were turning off onto the Westlake exit from the main highway, and after half an hour driving around Westlake, Sam finally convinced Dean they needed to stop for directions.

"We can't just get a map?"

"No!"

Five minutes later they found themselves crawling up a long gravel drive way leading up a hill. Both sides of the driveway were thickly stuffed with birch and maple trees. Sam looked out of the car window and saw the trees had no signs of scratches, plasma, strange growths, anything. They looked like trees.

When they got to the top of the hill, the school emerged. It loomed over it's schoolyard, It's highest peaks towering over the forest and all the trees in it. With a crimson roof and old brick walls, accessorized with white stilled windows, it was a building "This is it." he said looking at the school's information board. "Westlake Prep."

Dean noticed the police cars parked at the front doors of the school. "Dude check it out." He said with a nudge.

The two parked in the student parking lot and walked into the school. There, they saw the police officers talking to a male teacher with dark hair and square glasses. To avoid attention, Sam shuffled across the hallway and examined the wall, which was lined with paintings and other artworks. He stopped at a portrait of the Mona Lisa. A sticker on the frame had information printed on it;

Tyler Mathews

Sienna Conté on paper

The bell at the end of the main hall rang, which told the students to move to their next class. Sam leaned into the picture more to hide his face until the students came and they could both walk around without much worry and hassle. Upon leaning in, he noticed the signature in the corner, it read, 'TJ' and not; 'TM' like Sam expected. He disregarded it as a flood of students in school uniforms came down the hallway.

"Well so much for blending." Dean sighed as he turned to the place the cop had been a moment before. "Sammy," He said smacking his brother's chest.

Sam looked and saw that the police officer had left along with the teacher. "Common, we'll check out back and ask a few questions." He said before starting down the hall.

"Hey have you seen Tom?" TJ said to a friend of his as he walked down the hallway. He walked around the corner and bumped into two guys who weren't in uniform. "Hey, uh… are you guys supposed to be here?" He asked, looking around for a someone who may have been giving them a tour.

"Uh… Hi, I'm Mark." Sam said to TJ, and he held out his hand. "And, this is my brother James." He nodded his head to Dean.

"TJ..." TJ said, taking Sam's hand and then Deans.

"We're from homeland security; we were hoping we could ask you a few questions... outside." Dean said, seeing the glass set of doors 5 feet behind the boy.

"Sure." TJ said, eyeing the two and turning around and going through the double set of doors.

He stepped outside and felt the cool morning air wash over his face. He breathed in deeply and savored the earthy smell of sweet decay in the fall air. The Brothers came up in front of him with inquisitive looks on their faces.

"Who are you?" TJ asked them.

"We told you… we're homeland security." Dean said, his expression changing to cockiness.

"No your not." TJ snuffed. "You don't wear suits, you didn't flash me a badge, and what's happening here is a series of missing peoples cases. Last time I checked, homeland security doesn't care about a handful of missing people… unless you're under cover, you forgot your badges in the car, and it's more than just a missing peoples case." He finished with cockiness and sarcasm surpassing Dean's silent objection.

"Ok look-" Sam started. But TJ's eyes had focused onto a figure near the woods. A guy following a white animal of some kind. The animal leaped into the depths of the trees and the figure curiously followed. It was then that he realized the figure was Tom.

Sam noticed TJ's apparent inability to focus and he turned to see what was interesting TJ so much. When he did, The boy in the distance was grabbed by the gnarled branches and roots of the trees and forced in further.

"TOM!" TJ screamed, his feet already flying towards the forest. He has so full of adrenalin that he didn't even notice the brothers following him. When he finally reached the edge of the woods, Tom was gone, but after only a short moment's pause for breath, He raced into the bushes and was stopped when a tree root caught his foot and sent him tumbling into the dirt and leaves that blanketed the ground.

"Are you okay?!" Sam asked, picking TJ up on one side while Dean plopped beside him, out of breath and panting.

"I'm getting too old for this" He huffed.

Sam righted TJ and after a bit of pleading, TJ had convinced the two that they had to help look for Tom. The brothers of course knew that this was something they should look into, for trees do not kidnap people like that everyday.

After about three minutes of walking, the three stepped into a clearing, in the center was an old and extremely mangled weeping willow. It looked grey and lifeless but the leaves that flowed to the ground were green and bright.

"That's weird" Sam mumbled. "This is the only willow in here that I've seen so far. And It's so out of place because, Weeping willows are _supposed_ to grow on riverbanks, beaches, some ware close to a water source."

"And check this out" Dean said, walking up to a branch and stroking a green leaf.

"It's fall…" TJ pointed out, and Dean nodded.

TJ went up beside Dean and pulled back a branch, behind it was the tree's trunk. It had a gaping hole in it. He stepped closer and saw that the hole went down through the center of the trunk and deep into the ground, and before TJ could figure out how this tree was still alive he was being attacked by a branch. I wrapped itself around his waist and when he looked to the others for help he saw that they were struggling with their own set of branches.

He could feel himself being pulled towards the hole. He attacked the branches with his fingers but couldn't wriggle loose. It jerked him into the hole and he caught the edge. His knuckles turning white as he tried to hoist himself up but was defeated as Sam was thrown into the hole as well. Sam caught TJ's leg and was hanging over the blackness, TJ's hands now bleeding as the bark of the tree cut into them because of the extreme weight. His agony was brought to and end as Dean tumbled into the hole and he could not withstand this pain any longer.

The moment TJ let go, the three of them fell through the air and darkness for what seemed like minutes. The feeling of butterflies in their stomachs made it near impossible for them to catch their breaths when combined with the fear of their eventual and inevitable demise when the ground caught up with them.

Lights could now be seen at the bottom, and with it, the ground. TJ just stared with tear filled eyes at the death before him, for he was unable to scream any longer. He barely felt the ground before he was knocked unconscious and all was black.


	2. Chapter 2

Darkness, confusion and pain. Three things that everyone hates and three things TJ experienced when he woke up. He opened his eyes, the room was dimly lit and as his eyes focused, he could see a figure hunched over against the wall. He crawled closer and saw it was the younger of the two strangers he had met earlier that day. He edged closer still and heard the steady breathing of sleep. He was alive.

"You're awake." A voice said, startling him.

"Ugk." Was all TJ could muster as his voice cracked from lack of use and the brutal fall.

Dean chuckled and sat down next to his brother. "I don't know how we all survived this fall, but I know we're not getting out the way we got in."

TJ glanced around and his eyes shifted towards the ground, soft cushiony grass that as it got further from the wall, dispersed and was replaced by black and white checkered marble tiles. On the wall closest to him, there was a mural painted which depicted a wonderful white castle, with a flourishing garden, a vast labyrinth and in the background, a trailing assemblage of frosted mountains that could make even an avalanche beautiful.

"Listen, um…," The man said hesitantly. "I guess I should come clean. My real name is Dean and sleeping beauty over there," he pointed to his brother. "That's Sam."

"So," TJ began, finally finding his voice. "You lied. Why?"

Dean seemed to process these thoughts and opened his mouth to answer, and then shut it again after thinking better of it. "What's that?" He asked instead.

TJ cocked an eyebrow and turned to see what Dean was looking at. It was his book bag! He looked down and saw his maroon and grey uniform covered in dirt with grass stains on both knees and elbow. He rummaged through his bag and thanked god for gym class. Inside, were the gym clothes he had stuffed in the night before. He tossed them aside and rummaged some more, inside he found; his cell phone, his note book computer, his room key, a pair of sun glasses, a long sleeved shirt in case the heat broke in the school again, a granola bar, a few scraps of paper, some pens and pencils, his sketchbook, and two dollars plus a few pennies.

Completely forgetting about his investigative chat with Dean, TJ turned on his cell phone and raised it above his head. He circled all his belongings, eyes never leaving the tiny plasma screen on his phone.

"Damn it."

"What?"

"No service." TJ chucked the cell phone back into his bag, not really caring if it broke at this point. He was who knows how far under ground and he couldn't call anyone for help. But what about an e-mail?! He kneeled down and opened up his notebook, only to have his stomach drop when he saw a crack in the glass of the monitor. He pushed the power button just in case, but it failed to even make the low _whirring_ sound that it usually did when he turned it on.

"That broken too?" Dean said, slightly amused with the kid's franticly collective personality.

TJ tossed the broken note book onto the ground, resulting in a large crash and probably another large crack in the screen by the sound of it. The noise had another outcome, and as TJ shoved everything else back into his book bag, Sam stirred and awoke.

"Wasat Dean?" Sam slurred, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

TJ turned and his stomach dropped. "Oh, I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I forgot he was sleeping." He finished, turning to Dean.

"It's okay," Dean replied. "Alright, Sam, I'm going to check some of these doors. See if maybe there's one that's unlocked."

Sam nodded and turned to TJ. "Hi," he said with a weak smile.

Sam got up and looked down the wide hall to see his brother trying to force open doors, pulling on a door handle about 30 feet away from them.

"Dean told me everything." He said calmly, trying as hard as he could to be passive.

"Dean told you what?!" Sam exclaimed, looking over at his brother in disbelief.

"Everything," TJ said, suppressing a smile. "While you were asleep he decided that, since we're stuck here and it's obvious we'll need to work together to get out, he'd just tell me why you guys were here."

"So he told you about why we were looking for the missing kids?" Sam asked, under the impression that if TJ knew their real names, it was possible Dean trusted him enough to tell him what else when on, especially when they were in this kind of situation.

"Yep." TJ said, looking up at the dirt ceiling, the gaping hole they had fallen through looming above the two of them. "_This_ happen often?"

"No, hunting demons doesn't usually get us eaten by trees." Sam replied, following TJ's gaze and straining his eyes up into the darkness.

"No, I suppose not," TJ mumbled. His three years of drama class in high school had finally proved good for something other than the possibility that he could one day be a lawyer. He put his head down, hiding a smirk.

"But Sam," he started, not looking up. "Why did you come here?"

"The disappearances," Sam said, sitting back down and leaning up against the wall again. "We had nothing to do, nothing else really seemed to jump out on the daily news, so we just came here to check it out."

TJ followed suit with Sam and sat against the cold wall. "You think the tree ate them too? Maybe, it eats people who come too close… Like a venous fly trap or something."

"Could be," Sam agreed. He was starting to really like TJ, he felt easy to talk to, he was younger and shorter, about the same size as dean, but not as buff. "But how would it lure that many people into the middle of the forest."

"Well, these disappearances, they only started recently right? And this tree, it could have been there for ages… so maybe something's luring it in there. In here, I mean. Just think, All these door have to go _somewhere _right?" TJ said, letting his thoughts flow.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

He was impressed with TJ. He seemed to catch on fairly quick, and unlike most, was completely accepting when it came to the "weird stuff" that most people rejected.

TJ got up. "I'm going to change out of these clothes. You can go help your brother," he said, starting to get his clothes out of his bag. Sam left, went down and found his brother hauling on a door handle.

"How's it coming?" He asked through a smile.

"They're all locked," he grumbled. "Every single one of them. That one doesn't even have a handle." He pointed to the end of the hall, a large door with only a lock in the center of both doors was placed in the wall. The door was plain looking, there was nothing too special about it, but the lock itself looked like it was made of solid gold. They both drew closer, examining the door. On inspection, they saw that the door's cracks were covered in salt, and the thick wood was greened with age and rot.

"Hey guys!" TJ screamed. "Come here!" The two jogged back over to him to see him holding out a small golden key. "Check it out," he said as he passed it to Dean. "I found it in the grass."

The boy's looked at each other and rushed back to the large door, TJ trailing behind. Dean took the key and placed it in the lock. A perfect fit. He turned it, and when it clicked the entire chamber rumbled.

It all happened so fast. The door burst open and the three were swepped away and bashed into the wall with the mural by the rushing water that had broken through. The salty water filled their lungs and when the rushing was over TJ could see Dean turning in the water looking around.

"SAM!" echoed his deep voice on the walls.

TJ felt something graze his leg and looked down. It was Sam struggling to swim up. TJ dove own, grabbing Sam around the middle and hauling him to the surface, where he choked and coughed up the sea water.

Dean swam over and grabbed his brother by his collar then grabbed TJ with his other arm. "WE HAVE TO STICK TOGETHER!" he yelled to them over the crashing of the water against the walls. The torches began to flicker out one after another until the three were quickly engulfed by darkness.

They waded there, waiting for the water to still. When it finally did, it went placid. There was no light, and the only sounds were that of drips throughout the room and the heavy breathing of all three boys.

"What are we going to do?" TJ asked Dean, his voice cutting through the silence and dark. He couldn't see Dean's face, but he could feel his arm around him. "We won't be able to stay above water for very long."

The water pulsed. Ripples danced up and down the submerged bodies of the three before a low gurgling could be heard. The level water began to lower, and the boys could feel the pressure tugging at them, pulling them under. The water swirled, creating a whirlpool that, in the darkness, looked like a gaping black hole.

The three splashed over towards the nearest wall in panic trying to grab onto something but the walls were bare and smooth. They tried swimming against the current and evaded being sucked under the water but they soon grew tired and soon Sam slipped from Dean and TJ's clutches and was swallowed by the hole.

"No! Sam, hold on-" Dean groaned. But it was too late, and his attempt to save his brother caused him to slip and he too was eaten by the darkness.

TJ was tired. He could barely keep his eyes open as he continued to swim, hoping that the water would drain and he would find himself on the floor again, but he was too weak. He couldn't keep fighting the currents, so he too, drifted into the spinning hole.

The current threw him around like a rag doll. He could feel his body being sucked through the door and into a cooler body of water. His body was spinning rolling and thrashing, his lungs burning. He needed air.

His face collided with sand, and he could feel the water retracting in anticipation for the next wave. When it came, TJ was sent rolling onto the beach. He coughed up water and sand, and then inhaled for what felt like the very first time ever.

He crawled up a beach of black sand, eyes closed and itching with the pain that fatigue brings. His hands dug into the sand as he hauled himself out of the reaches of the waves that were still lapping as his feet. The sand felt dry and dead between his fingers, which was soon replaced by the feeling of half dried blood and rotted flesh.

He sat up quickly and took his hand out of the rotting carcass. He was jolted awake, his eyes now round with fear. He crawled backwards and the two brothers came running from one side of the beach, still dripping wet.

"What's wrong? " Sam started before his eyes landed on the mass of blood and meat that was not two feet ahead of them. His hand went up to his face as if to stop himself from gagging and then he grabbed TJ under the arms and dragged him up past the corpse and onto a patch of brown grass.

TJ was shaking, half from the cold of the water he was just in and half from the fear. He mumbled and frantically wiped his hand on the grass. "What the hell was that?" he asked, his voice as shaky as he was.

"It looks like it was an animal." Dean said, taking a closer look. "Like, a seal or something."

"No it's a walrus." Corrected Sam. "See, it has tusks."

"Well, what is that, exactly?" TJ asked, looking at the rags that were wrapped around the thing. "Is… Is that a waistcoat?" he said with confusion upon reaching the place the other two were standing.

In front of them was the body of a walrus, or, what was left of one. The tail was half eaten and only bone could be seen. The ribs were exposed and a pool of blood was surrounding the mass of it. The waistcoat was ripped and stained scarlet, the ivory tusks were scratched and dried from the heat of the sun beaming down onto it.

The water splashed and a huge oyster broke through the waves and shimmied up to beach. TJ fell backwards and the two brothers grabbed him and pulled him behind a tree. He kicked his feet to help move faster as the faceless oyster clamped down on the walrus' body and tossed it, along with its self, back into the ocean.

"Holy crap." Dean breathed.


End file.
